Meanwhile, the comedy itself has had a promotion. Despite originally being announced as airing on BBC2, the drama will now premiere on BBC1 on Friday March 31st at 9pm and will air in the same slot for three weeks.

Decline And Fall sees Whitehall as Paul Pennyfeather – a student at Oxford University in the 1920s. He is wrongly dismissed for indecent exposure having been made the victim of a prank by The Bollinger Club.

He then finds employment at Llanabba, an obscure public school in Wales where Dr Fagan (David Suchet) is the headmaster. Here he meets the Honourable Mrs Margot Beste-Chetwynde (Longoria), the mother of one of the pupils.

“I am extremely pleased to be a part of this amazing adaptation by [Rev co-writer] James Wood,” Whitehall said when he was confirmed for the satire last year. “I’ve been a fan of this book since I read it as a teenager and I just hope that I can do it justice.”